The thesis is:
Language is often described as a mean of the representation of reality and the meditation between human beings for actions in reality. Furthermore, the language can emancipate from that function of representing and even communicating in fictions and literature or in linguistics. Therefor one can offer another viewpoint to the language, according to which the language should maintain an optimal degree of opacity rather than transparency. Thus the main function of language is to replace reality by an image of it, which should not correspond to reality exactly but more or less approximately and even fussy and foggy. Consequently, the main function of language is to create fictions and literature rather than representations. Furthermore, a very important, but only particular and borderline case is that of representing reality. However this particular case should not serve for researching and defining the language as a whole.
Main arguments “pro” the thesis:
Pro.1 The hypothesis of a single reality underlies the possibility for the language to be understood as an exact representation of reality. In fact, reality is combined from many fragments more or less consistent internally and rather inconsistent to each other. The even partial agreement even of a little part of them is too complicated and redundant puzzle, the resolving of which is one task, considerably exceeding the intellectual capabilities of any human being, even of a genius. Fortunately, the language has evolved in another way, “bracketing” the question about the absolutely exact representation of reality either single or plural. Therefor it has gradually and historically grounded tools such as words, which are fussy, foggy, imprecise, but which are apt to omit all immaterial contradictions between eventual parts of reality and clearing more or less only a few essential and consensual properties. Consequently any unit of meaning outlines some area of consensus either between parts of reality or between many realities.
Pro.2 Even if the hypothesis of one single reality is granted, any human being perceives and interprets it radically differently from anyone other. The consistency of perceptions ant interpretations might be achieved exceptionally difficultly by the scientific picture of reality. That picture is so sophisticated that no human being can understand it as a whole. Only a few genii can embrace even that tiny piece of it, which is contained in a single scientific theory or discipline. Nevertheless, the language has created tools relevant to the intellectual potential of an average human being for anyone to communicate and interact jointly and rather successfully. Those tools abandon and darken absolutely all dividing human beings including the different intellect and experience and concentrating only on a few unifying features of reality as the meaning of the corresponding linguistic item.
Pro.3 The process of appearing of any meaning darkens gradually all contradictions both between different aspects of the meaning and between its interpretations by different human beings. Consequently, the sense of any meaning consists in the optimal proportion between its unclearness and exactness. Even more, the exactness of any meaning in a language is secondary. This is the little rest after removing all disagreements or contradictions both between different fragments of knowledge and between people’s interpretations. Science hides this process alleging the words in the language as imprecise in comparison to any scientific notion possessing ostensibly in advance an exact definition. In fact, the scientific definitions have many disadvantages in relation to the words in a language. The concepts in science only continue the same process in a community of scientists creating an artificial language just for this community therefore excluding the rest people and even a part of their colleagues from this newly-made language as ignoramuses.
Main arguments “contra” might be:
Contra.1 Science is one of the most successful areas of human activity. It is the base both of the contemporary global society and technics. The scientific notions possess exact definitions even when the used terms are the same as certain words in most languages. Any scientific notion should be as exact as possible. The logical and deductive method is fundamental for science. It requires maximally precious definitions to be applied. An essential part of the contemporary science including thoroughly physics, informatics and chemistry is mathematized. The mathematizing is impossible in any other base than that of absolutely precise definitions of all concepts. The mathematics itself is built axiomatically and deductively. The properties of all notions are rigorously fixed by axioms. The thesis should explain the way of science to be so successful after it has used a maximally exact and artificial language contra the thesis.
Contra.2. All contradictions in the unified scientific picture of the world are removable. This picture has guaranteed the progress during the last centuries. What can the thesis offer to mankind?
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The presentation also as a PDF or a video; furtnermore as slides @ EasyChair
Language is often described as a mean of the representation of reality and the meditation between human beings for actions in reality. Furthermore, the language can emancipate from that function of representing and even communicating in fictions and literature or in linguistics. Therefor one can offer another viewpoint to the language, according to which the language should maintain an optimal degree of opacity rather than transparency. Thus the main function of language is to replace reality by an image of it, which should not correspond to reality exactly but more or less approximately and even fussy and foggy. Consequently, the main function of language is to create fictions and literature rather than representations. Furthermore, a very important, but only particular and borderline case is that of representing reality. However this particular case should not serve for researching and defining the language as a whole.
Main arguments “pro” the thesis:
Pro.1 The hypothesis of a single reality underlies the possibility for the language to be understood as an exact representation of reality. In fact, reality is combined from many fragments more or less consistent internally and rather inconsistent to each other. The even partial agreement even of a little part of them is too complicated and redundant puzzle, the resolving of which is one task, considerably exceeding the intellectual capabilities of any human being, even of a genius. Fortunately, the language has evolved in another way, “bracketing” the question about the absolutely exact representation of reality either single or plural. Therefor it has gradually and historically grounded tools such as words, which are fussy, foggy, imprecise, but which are apt to omit all immaterial contradictions between eventual parts of reality and clearing more or less only a few essential and consensual properties. Consequently any unit of meaning outlines some area of consensus either between parts of reality or between many realities.
Pro.2 Even if the hypothesis of one single reality is granted, any human being perceives and interprets it radically differently from anyone other. The consistency of perceptions ant interpretations might be achieved exceptionally difficultly by the scientific picture of reality. That picture is so sophisticated that no human being can understand it as a whole. Only a few genii can embrace even that tiny piece of it, which is contained in a single scientific theory or discipline. Nevertheless, the language has created tools relevant to the intellectual potential of an average human being for anyone to communicate and interact jointly and rather successfully. Those tools abandon and darken absolutely all dividing human beings including the different intellect and experience and concentrating only on a few unifying features of reality as the meaning of the corresponding linguistic item.
Pro.3 The process of appearing of any meaning darkens gradually all contradictions both between different aspects of the meaning and between its interpretations by different human beings. Consequently, the sense of any meaning consists in the optimal proportion between its unclearness and exactness. Even more, the exactness of any meaning in a language is secondary. This is the little rest after removing all disagreements or contradictions both between different fragments of knowledge and between people’s interpretations. Science hides this process alleging the words in the language as imprecise in comparison to any scientific notion possessing ostensibly in advance an exact definition. In fact, the scientific definitions have many disadvantages in relation to the words in a language. The concepts in science only continue the same process in a community of scientists creating an artificial language just for this community therefore excluding the rest people and even a part of their colleagues from this newly-made language as ignoramuses.
Main arguments “contra” might be:
Contra.1 Science is one of the most successful areas of human activity. It is the base both of the contemporary global society and technics. The scientific notions possess exact definitions even when the used terms are the same as certain words in most languages. Any scientific notion should be as exact as possible. The logical and deductive method is fundamental for science. It requires maximally precious definitions to be applied. An essential part of the contemporary science including thoroughly physics, informatics and chemistry is mathematized. The mathematizing is impossible in any other base than that of absolutely precise definitions of all concepts. The mathematics itself is built axiomatically and deductively. The properties of all notions are rigorously fixed by axioms. The thesis should explain the way of science to be so successful after it has used a maximally exact and artificial language contra the thesis.
Contra.2. All contradictions in the unified scientific picture of the world are removable. This picture has guaranteed the progress during the last centuries. What can the thesis offer to mankind?
*
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The presentation also as a PDF or a video; furtnermore as slides @ EasyChair
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